Money a hurdle on way to the champs

It almost seems as if Joostenbergvlakte’s Georgia Biet, 17, overcomes obstacles on a daily basis.

When she rides on eight-year-old thoroughbred Amico she leaves a trail of 1,2 metre obstacles behind her and when she lives life she kicks dust in the eyes of life’s tribulation.
She simply refuses to take one step back.

The Western Province champion in her class has been chosen to represent the province’s equitation team at the South African Championship in Durban, which starts this week Friday, but she is well short of raising the funds she needs to go.
This will, however, not stand in her way, since she is determined to go – come hell or high water.
“It will cost me R13 500 to go,” she says wide-eyed.

Her mother contributed her Christmas bonus and Georgia has been saving money non-stop to realise her expensive dream.
Her father’s untimely death rocked the Biet family, but as the saying goes: “If you fall off the horse, get back on.”
Georgia has fallen off numerous times, and once her horse even stepped on her head, but this never deterred her.
A true horse person is someone who not just loves to ride, but lives to ride! Georgia was on a horse when she was just five weeks old.

There are several horses on their smallholding, which she rides for the owners to earn extra money.
In contrast with her friends, Georgia cannot spend this money on socialising, since she must use every cent to further her dream of excelling in the 1.30 metre class.

I already qualified for 1.30, but the extra 10 centimetres might give Amico a bit of a fright,” she says.
It is a careful juggling act to stay on top of her Grade 11 school work, play hockey and ride horses. After school she plans to go into horse physiotherapy.
Funding to ride in competitions is perhaps the biggest hurdle of all, but the giving nature of strangers is seeing her through.

“Sometimes people will see me riding on a horse in the road and then just give me R100!”
Without the help of these donations, Georgia cannot continue.
“It costs us about R4 000 to R5 000 a month to keep Amico,” she says.
She badly needs a sponsor, so someone or some company’s name could advertise and support a worthy cause at the same time.

Anyone who can help Georgia can contact 084 910 2689 or 084 481 3132.

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